Mountain Lake

Ellis clutched his bloody, throbbing arm as pain coursed through his body.

Damnit. I've been lucky so far with not getting hurt so far, to think this bear got me. I always had a health potion before to heal my wounds quickly but now I do not. I'm gonna have to take care of it the old fashion way.

Ellis rinsed his wound and wrapped it carefully in clean cloth from his bag. Even without a health potion, it would still heal quickly since he had the body of a Tower-Walker, but it would be an annoyance for a day or so as the wound was fairly deep. After dealing with his wound he looked at the lifeless carcass of the Fang Toothed Bear. It was in generally good condition and there was more than enough material to make insulate his armor.

This cave should be as good as any place to rest while this wound heals and I make preparations for the journey up the mountain. I'm going to need to upgrade my armor, figure out my food situation, and wait for my HP to recover. First, let's focus on this thing.

Ellis sat down and quickly got to work on dismantling the monster. Just skinning the monster took almost the rest of the day. After stretching the fur out and setting it aside, Ellis began to cut strips of meat off the monster. He then gathered up materials from outside the cave and set up a makeshift smoker to cook the meat. Smoking the meat would increase the time he could store it before it spoiled. It was dark by the time Ellis was done with everything, so he laid out his bed and drifted off to sleep in the cave.

When he woke up, he checked on his meat smoker and the hide. The meat was looking good and his hide was ready to be attached to his armor. He just had to cut it into appropriately sized pieces. After that was completed, he could finally begin work on his armor. He covered the inside of his armor with the fur to insulate it as well as covered other places in fur for extra warmth. Lastly, he made a big hood to keep his head and face warm. The wound on his arm was almost completely healed so he took the bandages off and cleaned them.

Alright, I should be good now!

Ellis put on his new modified armor and moved around to make sure that it was all secured properly. The fur layered inside of his boots were amazing and made each step feel like he was walking on a cloud compared to how they had felt before. The armor also felt toasty and snug like it was supposed to. He then looked himself over in his new modified armor. He looked like some sort of black assassin. The black fur really complimented his dark armor and the hood made him look like an assassin. The only thing throwing off the look was his large halberd that an assassin typically wouldn't be used to stealthily assassinate people. After gathering his smoked meat, he was ready for the journey up the mountain.

What awaited him at the top? He didn't know. But he did know that he was going to find out.

Earlier, as Ellis had scouted around the mountain looking for a big furry monster to harvest, he had also found the most optimal way up the mountain, about an hour away from the cave. With that in mind, Ellis quickly hiked his way around the mountain. As he made his way around, he found plenty of small furry monsters.

"Where were all of you yesterday when I needed you!"

Ellis scolded the monsters he had been desperately looking for the other day.

When he finally made it to the path he wanted to take, he quickly started up the mountain. Soon, deep white snow and jagged rock surrounded him on all sides. Luckily, he didn't run into many monsters as he made his way up slowly. Whenever he did, he was able to take care of them if they were a lower level or run away if they seemed like too much to handle. He didn't want to fight too much on the steep incline so he generally steered clear of any monsters that couldn't be dispatched in a couple of swings of his halberd. Whenever he got tired, he would rest and then continue.

Two days later as he journeyed up to the halfway point of the mountain, he came to a large frozen lake with sheer upward cliffs on either side. On the other side of the long, frozen blue lake was a narrow mountain pass that looked like it led straight to the top of the mountain. Ellis walked across the ice-covered lake carefully as there was no telling if it would crack and he would sink in. The ice below him was clear but he could only see a couple of meters deep into the water so there was no telling what was farther below. Knowing the Tower he really didn't want to know what was below anyways. He was about halfway across the frozen lake when he felt a rumble below him. He stopped in place, making sure not to make a single move that might crack the ice.

Shit! Is the ice cracking?

Another rumble came from right below him. He looked through the ice and saw a glimpse of a long white creature. The rumbling continued to shake the ice as Ellis tried to follow the creature. It looked like a giant white snake. As he traced its winding body under the ice, he eventually came to the head of the monster. Ellis gulped as he looked at its horned, snake-like head. The mouth of the snake was plenty big enough to swallow him whole in one bite. Ellis's eyes widened larger than they ever have before as they shifted to the monster's face and locked onto the monster's eyes. Its glowing ice blue eyes were staring right back at him.

What the hell is that!

Ellis began running with all of his strength, even activating Partial Lightning State in his legs to make his legs work as fast as possible to get him out of there.

CRACK!

A loud noise pierced Ellis's ears as the ground below began splintering and shifting apart. Ellis made the stupid decision to turn and look behind him. The giant monster was slithering straight for him, its body breaking the ice like a ship's hull as it gained on him. The ice shifting below him wasn't making it any easier for him to run as he slipped around trying to keep up his speed. During his quick glance behind him, he was able to see its name and level which terrified him even more.

[Ice Naga Lvl. 97]

There's no way I can win against that thing I have to escape!

He only had a quarter of the way left to go. If he could just stay ahead of the thing for that long he was sure to lose it in the narrow rocky pass ahead. The Ice Naga kept steadily gaining on him causing the ice below his feet to shift apart faster. He was almost there when suddenly a large pointed icicle came flying out from behind him destroying the path just ahead, leaving a gap in between the sheet of ice he was running on, and the entrance to the path ahead. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see what looked like the Ice Naga grinning and licking its lips. It was clear that it had launched that ice spike and was trying to trap him.

"DAMNIT! I WON'T LET YOU EAT ME!"

Ellis screamed as he used the last of his anima to make a giant leap of faith into the narrow path ahead. The ice sheet below him cracked and fell apart as Ellis dove for the narrow entrance in front of him with the Ice Naga just behind him with its mouth open ready to make him its next snack. The Ice Naga's mouth surrounded Ellis and suddenly everything went dark.